Within the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) framework it is a common observation that the relationship episodes (REs) that are told spontaneously in the course of psychotherapy sessions, or upon request in Relationship Anecdotes Paradigm (RAP) interviews, have a higher frequency of mainly negative rather than mainly positive CCRTs (Luborsky & Crits-Christoph, 1998; see also Chapter 2). A positive CCRT means the narrator has described an interpersonal event in which there was no interference (or no expectation of interference) with the satisfaction of his or her wishes, or a sense of mastery of being able to deal with one's wishes. For example, the wish to be loved is satisfied by another person who is affectionate [positive response of other (P-RO)] and the self feels accepted and happy [positive response of self (P-RS)]. In contrast, a negative CCRT means that the narrator describes an interpersonal event in which there was interference with the satisfaction of his or her wishes (or this is expected to occur). For example, the wish to be loved is unsatisfied by the response from an other that is rejecting [negative response of other (N-RO)] and the self feels frustrated and angry [negative response of self (N-RS)].

In our study, the instructions of the RAP interview that we used asked the interviewee to tell a relational narrative “about a specific event that was personally important or a problem to you in some way” (Luborsky, 1998a; p. 110).